No jail time or fine. These are celebrities and should be treated according to their status and not like the commoners. If there is jail time for a wealthy person it must be a short period served at a 'country club' facility with a spa, tennis courts etc. You can expect a rich celeb to go to a regular jail. The recent sentence given to Felicity Huffman is unfair. Her net worth is only 65 million and the fine is a terrible burden on her family.
chet Dickson - 5 years ago
Jail time may be a deterrent for repeating the offense but not likely for other parents. The answer will still be "anything my resources enable me to do" to the question what would you do for your children. While the actions are short-sighted those with the resources will use them without the threat of removing of the resources. I think of greater impact would be a significantly (proportionally) higher fine.
Tim Londergan - 5 years ago
I have always favored minimal jail time for white-collar criminals. This is not someone holding up a gas station because their child has no food -- these crimes were perpetrated deliberately and were planned methodically. Phone taps even show the parents discussing the best ways to cover up their lies. If Felicity Huffman does a couple of months in jail, you can bet this will serve as a deterrent for others considering similar scams. The same thing will hold with Volkswagen's diesel emissions fraud -- if a couple of high-ranking officials see some jail time, other companies, banks, and financial institutions will think twice before signing off on illegal and/or dangerous practices.
Cnocspeireag - 5 years ago
The US has a truly shameful record of imprisonment. Here in the UK, we are the worst in Europe. Sure, truly huge fines could provide a deterrent, but these would have to be carefully administered. There are many other sanctions being tried around the world, some with great success. There is little doubt that prison doesn't work.
Chris Buckley - 5 years ago
Depending on what one means by "like Felicity Huffman," yes. I take this to mean parents who had the means to drop half a million bucks to buy their children a trip to college at the expense of a more deserving applicant.
A fine of less than 10% that amount isn't going to do it. I'm a staunch advocate of the notion that our justice system should be rehabilitative, not retributive so I'm open to ideas not involving jail time given these parents are non-violent offenders. Would a $2M fine be too steep? I might be willing to go for that instead. The idea of a fine is to act as a deterrent, but the level for which a financial penalty acts as a deterrent varies between people. Certainly, for these parents, 20k isn't likely to do it.
Rachel - 5 years ago
Jail time, yes. Thank think they should also be made to pay the tuition of a less privileged student, one who got in on their own merit.
Karen Fierman - 5 years ago
Yes, those parents should get jail time. I don't know if their children were "lazy" or not; that's rather beside the point. It's the parents, with their sense of ENTITLEMENT, that is so galling. What they did is just plain wrong. I can only hope that the fact that they were so ethically challenged in this event didn't also exist in their child-rearing years lest their kids turn out the same way
Scott M Moody - 5 years ago
Back in the 60's I worked very hard on academics and extra-curriculars in order to be competitive for an excellent college and was admitted to Harvard on a full scholarship. My great-uncle had done the same 60 years earlier earning degrees from Dartmouth and Yale. We both came from humble farming families in Nebraska and Iowa.
For the past 30 + years I interview several applicants to Harvard College from the Appalachian part of Ohio (SE region) and several were successfully admitted to Harvard or one of the other Ivies.
For wealth families to cheat and buy admission slots for their lazy children DENIES admission to others who have worked hard and deserve to be given the opportunity to grow.
Damned yes those parents should be getting a minimum of 6 months in prison, cleaning toilets.
No jail time or fine. These are celebrities and should be treated according to their status and not like the commoners. If there is jail time for a wealthy person it must be a short period served at a 'country club' facility with a spa, tennis courts etc. You can expect a rich celeb to go to a regular jail. The recent sentence given to Felicity Huffman is unfair. Her net worth is only 65 million and the fine is a terrible burden on her family.
Jail time may be a deterrent for repeating the offense but not likely for other parents. The answer will still be "anything my resources enable me to do" to the question what would you do for your children. While the actions are short-sighted those with the resources will use them without the threat of removing of the resources. I think of greater impact would be a significantly (proportionally) higher fine.
I have always favored minimal jail time for white-collar criminals. This is not someone holding up a gas station because their child has no food -- these crimes were perpetrated deliberately and were planned methodically. Phone taps even show the parents discussing the best ways to cover up their lies. If Felicity Huffman does a couple of months in jail, you can bet this will serve as a deterrent for others considering similar scams. The same thing will hold with Volkswagen's diesel emissions fraud -- if a couple of high-ranking officials see some jail time, other companies, banks, and financial institutions will think twice before signing off on illegal and/or dangerous practices.
The US has a truly shameful record of imprisonment. Here in the UK, we are the worst in Europe. Sure, truly huge fines could provide a deterrent, but these would have to be carefully administered. There are many other sanctions being tried around the world, some with great success. There is little doubt that prison doesn't work.
Depending on what one means by "like Felicity Huffman," yes. I take this to mean parents who had the means to drop half a million bucks to buy their children a trip to college at the expense of a more deserving applicant.
A fine of less than 10% that amount isn't going to do it. I'm a staunch advocate of the notion that our justice system should be rehabilitative, not retributive so I'm open to ideas not involving jail time given these parents are non-violent offenders. Would a $2M fine be too steep? I might be willing to go for that instead. The idea of a fine is to act as a deterrent, but the level for which a financial penalty acts as a deterrent varies between people. Certainly, for these parents, 20k isn't likely to do it.
Jail time, yes. Thank think they should also be made to pay the tuition of a less privileged student, one who got in on their own merit.
Yes, those parents should get jail time. I don't know if their children were "lazy" or not; that's rather beside the point. It's the parents, with their sense of ENTITLEMENT, that is so galling. What they did is just plain wrong. I can only hope that the fact that they were so ethically challenged in this event didn't also exist in their child-rearing years lest their kids turn out the same way
Back in the 60's I worked very hard on academics and extra-curriculars in order to be competitive for an excellent college and was admitted to Harvard on a full scholarship. My great-uncle had done the same 60 years earlier earning degrees from Dartmouth and Yale. We both came from humble farming families in Nebraska and Iowa.
For the past 30 + years I interview several applicants to Harvard College from the Appalachian part of Ohio (SE region) and several were successfully admitted to Harvard or one of the other Ivies.
For wealth families to cheat and buy admission slots for their lazy children DENIES admission to others who have worked hard and deserve to be given the opportunity to grow.
Damned yes those parents should be getting a minimum of 6 months in prison, cleaning toilets.